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pre diabetes/diabetes/blood sugar

03-03-2013, 08:07 AM

Hi everyone!
So I've been reading about eating primally for a few months now, and have recently started changing my diet around to make it healthier. I've had success with low carb diets in the past (atkins/south beach ect) but I've recently been a bit worried about how it seems to be affecting me this time; I've had awful headaches, today one so bad that I nearly passed out. I've also been waking up super thirsty and just generally being really thirsty most of the time, and have been feeling dizzy and so so tired.
I know that when you cut down carbs and stop relying on them for energy, there is a adjustment period where you do feel kinda crappy - been through it a few times, but this time its seems different. Like today I've only been awake for 4 hours but I've already had about 5 or 6 big glasses of water and I still feel thirsty :/

I had a fasting blood glucose test done in November, which came back normal. I've had loads of issues with tiredness and stuff in the past (I was anaemic and had a vitamin D deficiency, my hair started falling out ect - curse the years of "healthy" super low fat diets I thought were good for me!) and I had a cholesterol test which had low LDL but also low HDL.. but since the "evil" LDL was low, the doctor seemed pretty happy about it..

Anyway, it was around then that I started trying low carb diets, and around Jan when I discovered this website, so I bet those tests are a load different now! Jan I did primal for around a month, and lost half a stone, felt so good, had no headaches or tiredness - but then I did a nutrition class in college and it scared me away from the amounts of fat I was eating - switching back to high carb and low fat, all my old symptoms came back and I felt so crappy, and gained a LOAD of weight (like over a stone) pretty quickly. *sighs*

So now I'm getting back into the whole primal/paleo way of eating, but I'm worried that all the sugar I've had over the years and switching between high fat, low carb and high carb, low fat might have done some damage. It's the constant tiredness and extremely painful burning headaches along with the constant thirst that are making me wonder if maybe I could be pre diabetic.. and how this would change the way I eat, or the amount of carbs I should eat (more/less)

Sorry for the ramble! If anyone has any ideas on why I could be feeling like this or your experience with diabetes and primal eating I'd love to hear it

I am by no means an expert but 'low carb flu' is normal. How many carbs are you eating a day? You might try adding more in the form of sweet potatoes, higher carb veggies, berries, etc and see if that helps. Sometimes you have to taper yourself off. I have heard some people complain of the thirst. I am type II diabetic and just recently added in more carbs due to energy loss. I found for me it started a horrible sugar craving. I am weeding them back out. If you could share what you are eating it might help to to give some ideas of what if anything needs to be changed.

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I can only give my experience. In the 2 months I have been primal, my morning glucose measures have gone from the 115 range to consistently under 100. I primarily stay under 75 carbs a day because I have a lot of weight to lose. One easy way to know for sure is to test your sugar. Either request a test from the Dr or go buy a monitor from the pharmacy. they usually aren't too expensive. It's the strips that cost so mIt'such but the monitors usually come with several strips.

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Hi,
I have a iphone app (myfitnesspal) that I use every few days just to check my averages.. on thursday I had 1716 calories, 111 grams of fat (mostly saturated and monounsaturated), 23 grams of carbs (4g fiber, 13g sugar) 124g protein. I had a mushroom and cheese omelette for breakfast, just some olives and grapes for lunch, and then had chicken with a small side salad for dinner.

But last monday I slipped up a bit and had 149g of carbs - 92 grams of sugar and 132g of fat. Calorie wise, I was only a bit over my maintenance, but its my switch between really high sugar and low sugar that's worrying me... I feel like if I have anything too sugary (like a lot of fruit) it makes me crave really simple carbs, like biscuits - which I never usually want! I had tuna and cheese for breakfast, and 2 pieces of dark chocolate (which I think set of the downward sugar spiral).. then I had some macadamia nuts around lunchtime, and some salmon and mushrooms for dinner. However I slipped up and snacked on a couple of brownies, a chocolate bar, and maltesers

Chocolate seems to be a big problem for me too - even dark chocolate. Despite its health benefits, it seems that it can never end at a couple of pieces every evening as a treat... it always ends with my raiding the cupboards for more.

I thought that the lower the carbs the better, but I feel like when I go under 20g, I feel fatigued regardless to how long I give myself to adjust!

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How is your salt intake? You shouldn't be restricting it during this adaptation phase. You may need more sodium, potassium, and magnesium.

Hi, according to myfitnesspal app, my sodium is 1100mg and potassium 500mg. It has a automatic goal set as 2500 and 3500 for them - haven't paid it much attention before now, as I thought keeping carbs low was most important - would adding salt to meals help?

Thanks

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When you are eating less than 50 g per day of carbs, your body excretes more water. Along with the water go a lot of minerals that you need, especially sodium, potassium and magnesium. This is normal, and in a higher salt eating natural diet would solve itself.

All you have to do is have a cup of salty broth (I like bone broth) twice a day, or add salt to everything you eat. Your total need for sodium on a very low carb diet can be 4 to 5 gms per day. Typically after drinking the salty broth, the headache will go away in a half hour to a couple of hours. Just keep getting enough salt daily and it won't be a problem.

Make sure to keep drinking extra water too to top up what you've lost.

I add a 1/4 tsp NoSalt and some magnesium citrate to my broth also to make up the lost potassium and Mg, but this isn't absolutely necessary. Just getting the extra salt in helps your body hold onto more water and slows down mineral loss to a normal level.

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Based on what you shared the one thing I notice is that you are eating too much protein. Hop over to the Eat Moar Fat thread http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread77549.html to read up on this. It is long but there is a lot of good info in there. A lot of people struggle when they go under a certain amount. You may need to up the carbs a bit. Don''t hesitate to ask questions and read other peoples experiences but in the long one every one is different and you have to find what works for you.